Sunday October 12, 2025

RidewithGPS gave us a nice route to Mukaishima. After we left the hotel and Highway 2 we followed some smaller roads through quiet villages. It is definitely harvest time for the rice, and families were working together to get the rice cut and dried.

There appears to be a lot of new builds and subdivisions. This means that some of the smaller rice fields are being removed from production and new houses are being built.  I stopped to take a photo of this old traditional house, opposite a newer house construction.

We are now on the Shimanami Kaido. This is a “must do” bike route in Japan. The Shimanami Kaido is a 70 km stretch of road for cyclists that connects Onomichi to Imabari and crosses six bridges, connecting six islands in Ehime Prefecture. Most cyclists complete the ride in one day.

We were not sure how long it would take us to get to Mukaishima and decided to spend a night here before completing the rest of the Shimanami Kaido. We were three hours early for check-in at the Lighthouse Hotel. Ralf asked if we could leave our bags so that we could cycle into town (about 3kms).  No problem.

This old mini-cooper was in the parking lot.

After crossing the first bridge on the Shiminami Kaido, we walked back onto the bridge so that we could take photos.

This was on the vending machine in the rest area.

We had a second lunch and a good cup of coffee at the Foccia Puffer. Then we found a bike shop, which had rental bikes and also sold bikes (Panasonic Bikes), for local residents.  The lady we spoke to spoke very good English. She had recently been in Canada, taking her family to show them where she used to live in Toronto.

We noticed a lot of cyclists congregating in this area. There was a ferry crossing to Imabari. I think a lot of cyclists skip the first bridge, and take the ferry to Mukaishima.

We came back to the hotel and checked in at 2:30. We had bought some noodles from the Family Mart for dinner as we are about 3.5km from the downtown. We paid extra for breakfast, which should give us a good start for a long day of cycling with “hills”. The hills are the ramps up to the bridges.

Saturday October 11, 2025

We decided today to use Google maps and not RidewithGPS. I couldn’t find the end hotel on RidewithGPS and I knew we were going to be north of Fukuyama. The route today was a mix of rural and highway riding. Of course the highway has a shoulder that can be good or diabolical. The diabolical is when the cycle/pedestrian path reduces to shoulder width and your bike with panniers is the size of a small car. If we cycle on the busy road, most of the cars give us about a foot of space, some slow down, as they pass but it can be scary.

Today was not a particularly pretty route, there were some nice areas. We went through a village that had lots of paper cut-outs on strings. We were trying to decide what they were representing – respect for a death in the village, celebration of some sort or drying out toilet paper?

Googles answer is:

In Japanese villages, the meaning of hanging paper cutouts is most often rooted in Shinto traditions. 

• Shide: These are zigzag-shaped paper streamers that are frequently hung from ropes (shimenawa), branches, or ritual wands (gohei) to indicate a sacred, ritually pure space. They are believed to mark the boundary between the sacred and the profane.
• Purification: Shinto priests wave a wand with shide attached to purify a person, item, or piece of property and ward off evil spirits.
• Harvest and fertility: The zigzag shape of the shide can represent lightning, symbolizing fertility and the potential for a good harvest.
• Teru teru bozu: These are white paper or cloth dolls hung by a string, typically in windows. They are used to wish for good weather and prevent rain

Currently they are harvesting the rice, and it is forecast for rain – I think these cut-outs were Teru-teru bozu.

We passed R9Yard Hotels. These are “hotel” rooms in shipping containers. Usually they are not too expensive, but for a Saturday night they were well out of our price range.

Tonight, we are in our second love motel. It has an Australian theme, a drawing of the Sydney harbor bridge and the opera house on the screen doors. It is very clean and spacious. After we settled in we wandered down to a restaurant. We had a lovely meal with pork and ramen and a beer.

Of course, when we walked in we could  almost hear a collective intake of breath, and rock, paper, scissors as to who is going to serve the foreigners. We quickly translated the menu and ordered two pork ramen and one large beer. The waiter who lost the rock, paper, scissors breathed a sigh of relief and took the order back to the kitchen. He came back with a large bottle of beer and one glass, he quickly got a second glass. As we left Ralf had already translated “That was really good, Thank you” and showed it to the lass at the cash, she had a big smile on her face. Yeah we served foreigners and it was good.

Back to the hotel room with a bottle of Korean Happy Water. We have no idea what is in this alcoholic drink, but it is good. We drank it when we were in Korea and really liked it, pleased to find it in Japan at $3.50 a bottle. In Canada it is $10.00 a bottle.

Friday October 10, 2025

A good day.

View of harbour as we left Hinase

We left Hinase along the same road that we came to the hotel. We were hoping to get some air in the tires at a local bike shop. We were a little early and we were about to leave when the owner came out. She said that she was taking a rest day. Ralf indicated that we were hoping to get some air. She took us to the garage behind the shop and tried to put air from a compressor into my tire. I had less air in my tire than when we started. Ralf had to get the new pump out and use that to put some air back into the tire. We did find a bike shop later in the ride and the fella quite happily added air to our tires. He wished us well on our trip. Ralf asked if they use psi, bar or kPa. His answer was no. I think they just go by feel!

RidewithGPS took us away from Highway 2 and up a steep hill. I had to push the last 50 metres. When we crested and went down the other side we saw all the trucks coming out of a tunnel. RidewithGPS had routed us around the tunnel that had no shoulder and lots of trucks. Thank you RidewithGPS.

The first 30 kms were very nice we went through a village that was well known for its ceramics. I am sure during the height of the tourist season this village would have been inundated with tourists. It was very quiet today.

As we left this village we spotted a cross, one of the first Christian churches we have seen. Christianity was banned in Japan in 1614 by the Tokugawa Shogunate, which issued a nationwide edict to eliminate the religion due to concerns it threatened the government and national stability. The ban lasted for approximately 250 years, until the Meiji Restoration in the mid-19th century and the lifting of the ban around 1873. 

We followed the Shinkansen Line for about 10kms. There was a rural road, the Shinkansen train line and then Highway 2. We stopped at one parking area so that Ralf could get a video of the train. We waited about 5 minutes, I said to Ralf you know what will happen, as soon as you put your phone away ……here’s one, Ralf just managed to get a video of it as it zoomed past.

Cycling past rice fields and grape vines

The route took us through the middle of Okayama. Although it is a big city it was easy to navigate through. Unfortunately, after Okayama we were on a busy road all the way to Kurashiki. I think we have spent more time cycling on sidewalks than the actual road.

Ralf suggested that this should be titled Ralf and Jacky – Ralf – Now what, Jacky – Here he goes again.

At one point as we were crossing a bridge, a young fella shouted out his car window and asked where we were going. Ralf shouted back Hiroshima. He waved at us with thumbs up and shouted safe travels.

We made good time to Kurashiki, even though we stopped twice to refuel. Sometimes, you just cannot seem to eat enough. When we arrived at the hotel one hour early, the fella behind the reception desk told Ralf we would have to bag our bikes. We have resigned ourselves to doing that and we packed our bikes in the bags and then waited in the lobby for three o’clock. Ralf asked if we could leave the bikes in the luggage storage. No, that was not allowed. At 20 minutes to three our room was ready, and we could check-in.

The restaurant across the road was a steak house and the other was a Domino’s pizza. Family Mart Convenience food again.

We could not find any accommodation in Onomichi for Saturday night (that was in our price range). The hotel prices always double, if not more, for a Saturday night stay.

Tomorrow we are staying at another Love Motel outside of Fukuyama. Sunday we will cycle the first of the seven bridges of the Shimankaido. Monday we will cycle the remaining six bridges to Imabari.

Thursday October 9, 2025

This was the best ride to date. Even though we rode an extra 5 kms and went up a 2km hill that topped out at 8. %, that we didn’t need to do.

This hotel had a very interesting layout. This was the open concept staircase.

We had a mediocre breakfast at the hotel and headed out at just after 9:00 a.m. It seemed as if we were out of Himeji in minutes. The route was so easy to follow. I didn’t want to jinx it by saying “Wow we got out of Himeji easily”. I kept my mouth shut. At 25 kms the route had taken us away from big cities and major highways, the roads were relatively quiet, and we were enjoying the ride.

The projected distance was 55 kms. We stopped for lunch, and while Ralf was taking a photo of our lunch, I took photos of the ladies toilet!!

Photos of toilet signs – graffiti?

We carried along a mix of quiet roads, with lovely scenery.

I knew we had a couple of climbs, but I was feeling strong, and I didn’t need to push my bike up any of these hills. The third climb kicked up to 8% and yes I pushed it for about 500 metres. We got to an area where Highway 250 and Highway 2 merged, RidewithGPS gave us a quieter road through a couple of villages and along the Shinkansen line. It was then that we realized we may have overshot our end point. Looking at where we were on the map and where we were spending the night it indicated we were heading towards Bizen not Hinase. We had added an extra climb and 5 kms. As I looked around me all I could see was hills, we were in a valley, and it looked as though we were going to have to climb again. My heart sank a little, but Ralf took us on a quiet valley road and before I knew it we were outside of our accommodation.

We are in a Hostel type accommodation, shared bathroom, and kitchen facilities. When I look for a hotel room I generally do not want a shared bathroom, but in Japan a shared bathroom could mean an ensuite, you are sharing it with the other person in the room. In this case we were sharing it with the other person in the other room.

Cameron from Guelph, Ontario was also cycling Japan. We had a quick chat as he arrived, and we were leaving to get something for dinner.

A good day.

Wednesday October 8, 2025

On our way home from dinner last night it appeared as if we were on a flight path for storks. We were near two small ponds and they were landing by the dozen, along with small white egrets.

We had a breakfast of champions of avocado and egg on wholewheat bread. I know it sounds like a week-end breakfast at home. We had purchased the items from the supermarket last night and ate in our room.

We headed out at 8:45. We stopped at one of the two ponds which had a mass of egrets and Japanese storks.

Our route to Himeji was short and we followed either Highway 2 or 250 most of the way. It was not a very exciting route. We stopped at 11:00 for something to eat and then we headed to the Castle at Himeji. This one of five National Treasures.

This was the best castle to date. The grounds are extensive and the castle was stunning from the outside. It was very busy with a lot of tourists and school groups. The English information brochure has so much information in it, I had to go through and pick out the pertinent information.

Himeji castle known as the White Heron castle, for its soaring keep and brilliant white plaster walls, it is Japan’s most visited castle. The main keep was built in 1601 and is one of the oldest surviving Castle Keeps in Japan.

Because the castle was never besieged, bombed or burned, more of Himeji’s building have survived to the present date than those of many other Japanese castles. In order to preserve this National Treasure for future visitors the castle’s keeps, gatehouses, and towers have undergone regular restoration since the early 1900’s.

Most of Himeji castles buildings were ostensibly for warfare, try counting the nearly 1000 gun and arrow slits that line the castle walls. But the castle was never attacked, instead the castle functioned mainly as the centre for administration and the home of Himeji’s daimyo.

One part of the castle (the west Bailey – Long Gallery) was dedicated to Princess Sen who was a Grandaughter to the Shogun Tokugawa leyasu (1543-1616). She married the lord to the Honda clan, the lords of Hemiji. Her quarters were extensive, and it was estimated that she had over 100 ladies in waiting.

One of the interesting things about the castle was that the visitors were directed in one direction, guided by arrows and the occasional guide preventing you from going back. There was one-way up the stairs and another way down. There was very little congestion.

I had to smile at this older couple. This was about the fourth flight of stairs we had to climb. The older lady was carrying the back-pack and she had a walking stick, her partner had hold of the handle of the back pack giving her a helping hand by lifting the back pack and her, up the stairs.

From one view of the castle it shows the longest bay window of all the castles in Japan. From the inside of the castle the Samarui could shoot arrows from this window.

The shachihoko tiles on the roof of the Himeji castle represent mythical fish like features believed to possess the power to ward of fires by spouting water. These decorative figures act as talisman, protecting the castle from theats with Himeji’s being a rare example of all having closed mouths. The fish tiles weighed 250 kgs and 190cms tall.

Throughout the castle there was lots of information in English. There were examples of the joinery used in some of the restoration work.

The picture on the right shows some markings. I think they were 1600 century grafitti. The general consensus is that these were markings possibly of where the rocks came from, the stone mason or rocks indicating who donated them.

Some areas warned you of low beams, no worries, I didn’t have to duck once.

We spent almost 4 hours at the castle. Then we headed to the hotel which was less than 2 kms from the castle.

We have dinner and breakfast included, the dinner left a lot to be desired but it was filling and we didn’t have to go and search for a restaurant. After dinner we planned the route towards Setouchi and found a reasonably priced hotel in Hisane called the English Club.

I then went to the Onsen. It wasn’t too hot, and I spent about half an hour relaxing.

A good end to a lovely day.

Tuesday October 7, 2025

This was our longest distance cycling in Japan to date. The temperature got up to 31 degrees, however there was a nice breeze and we could find shade for most of the route.

We crossed a lot of bridges today. We went under one river. We came to the river and Ralf said we have to get to the other side, but there was no bridge or apparent way across. We spotted an elevator and the doors opened and 6 cyclists appeared. We joined the queue of other cyclists and entered the elevator. What sorcery is this? The elevator had room for 8 cyclists or 4 regular cyclists and 2 touring cyclists. We didn’t get a photo of this elevator, as soon as the doors opened we were in a tunnel and walking our bikes and other cyclists coming from the opposite direction were moving into the elevator. At the other end of the tunnel another similar elevator was ready to take us up to road level. Magic.

We did find a similar elevator later on the route. However, that had room for only one bike at a time. To be able to wheel your bike into an elevator without having to manhandle the bike, so that it fits on a jaunty angle and wondering if the door will close is bliss. Now that is civilized.

An elevator that is long enough and wide enough for a touring bike

There is a lot of construction happening. We are not sure what they were building here.

It took us about 1 hour 15 minutes to clear the outskirts of Osaka. Then we were very quickly in a very busy Port area, followed by the City of Kobe.

It is hard riding through Cities, there is a lot of starting and stopping, with traffic lights, pedestrian crossings etc. RidewithGPS tries to find us a safe route, which means we are sometimes going down back alleys to avoid one major intersection.

In Kobe RidewithGPS decided to take us down the most expensive shopping street. Prada, Stella McCartney even had a store there. I said to Ralf I would pop into Prada dressed as I was in sweaty cycle gear. Ralf asked if I could afford a paper bag let alone anything else they may have to offer.

Ralf spends a lot of time trying to read the screen on his garmin and figure out where Ridewith GPS is taking us. I know he likes old trains, he was so concentrated on the route that he missed seeing this train. I stopped and told him to look right. Ralf took about 6 photos of this train.

By the time we got to Akashi we had only cycled 40 kms and we had been on the road for 5 hours. I didn’t think we were going to get to the hotel before it got dark. Akashi has a bridge to Awaji Island that resembles the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The Akashi-Kaikyo bridge is the longest suspension bridge in the world at 3.98 kms and was built in 1998. The bridge was designed with a dual-hinged stiffening girder system, allowing the structure to withstand winds of 286 kilometres per hour (178 mph), earthquakes measuring up to magnitude 8.5, and harsh sea currents. The bridge is a six-lane highway linking Kobe to Akashi Island. No bicycles allowed.

Not the Golden Gate Bridge

We stopped at this giant Manga figure that was outside a hospital and kids play area. I think the hospital may have been a kids hospital.

Eventually we found Highway 2 and followed it all the way to Harimi. RidewithGPS had a bit of a conniption when we stayed on Highway 2, it kept telling us to turn left. Although Highway 2 was a busy highway, there was a wide sidewalk/cyclepath.

We cycled 40 kms in over 5 hours, and the last 30 kms in 2 hours

We are over-budget due to high hotel costs in Otsu/Kyoto and Osaka, so we have bottomed out and tonight we are staying in a Love Motel. We stayed at several when we were in South Korea and they were as good as any regular hotel. This is the first love motel in Japan, the room is clean and Ralf had a bubblebath, in the jaccuzi tub. The tell tale signs you are booking a love hotel is the late check-in time, usually 9:00 p.m. and if you are staying consecutive days you have to check-out and check back in the next day, so that they can maximize the use of the room. This hotel allows you to check-in at 4:00, but you pay the nightly rate.

I will wait to have my relaxing bath tomorrow when we are at a hotel with an Onsen.

Monday October 6, 2025

Not such a great night’s sleep in this Apartment 11 Hotel. To get into the lobby you must press a code that the management send you after booking. Then they send you a code to get into the lock box to get the key.

Every time you want to enter the lobby area you have to put in the code that is allocated to the room. After you have entered the code the main door opens, and you can get to the elevators. At this hotel, for some unknown reason it also calls the room. Last night some eejit at 11:45, 11:50, and 12:45 decided to press our room number and called our room. Eventually, Ralf was able to translate and told the guy he was calling the wrong number. Not a good night’s sleep after that, but at least today was a rest day.

Of course, our rest days are not always resting. After breakfast, we headed out to explore our part of Osaka.

Although Osaka has a castle it is not one of the twelve originals. The original castle was built in 1583 and was destroyed in 1665.  It was not until 1931 that the present ferro-concrete reconstruction of the castle tower was built. During the war it miraculously survived the city-wide air raids. Major repair works gave the castle new glamor in 1997. The castle tower is now entirely modern on the inside and even features an elevator for easier accessibility.  We decided not to see a replica castle and would have a wandering day.

We wandered towards the Tsutenkaku Tower. The route took us through the Kuromon  Market which has multiple food stalls and fish stalls. Locals and tourists alike enjoyed the area. The locals buy a lot of their fish here and the prices were very reasonable.

The tourists love the atmosphere and the multitude of food stalls. The Kuromon Market which celebrated 200 years anniversary in 2025, and the Shinsaibashi-Suji Shopping Street.

We enjoy towers and there is a small(ish) tower, the Tsutenkaku, The Tower is only 108 metres tall,  there are three observation levels, one at 84 metres, one at 87.5 metres and the highest is at 94.5 metres. The original tower was built in 1912 with the arches at the bottom resembling the Arch de Triomphe and the upper half to resemble the Eiffel Tower. In 1943 the structure caught fire. This structure was rebuilt in 1956.

The tower has a jump, similar to the one that we did on the Treetop Trek in August. It also has a  slide that goes around the bottom two levels. We could hear people screaming as they were pushed down the slide. We decided to head right up to the observation decks. The views were amazing. We paid an extra $6.00 to go to the open observation deck. That was fun, there was an area that you could stand out and stand on a clear floor.

Osaka’s population is approximately 2.79 million for Osaka City The city is the third-most populous in Japan after Tokyo and Yokohama.

After our visit to the tower, we wandered back to the hotel, stopping at one of the food stalls in Kuromon for a shared lunch, Okonomiyaki (savory pancake). It was huge and plenty of food for the two of us. Ralf had a baby octopus. Poor baby octopus.

A relaxing evening and ready to head out tomorrow.

Sunday October 5, 2025

We are not made of sugar, we do not melt in the rain. After breakfast and rebuilding the bikes we headed out towards Osaka.

The forecast was for 30-40% rain showers, but we were heading for some hills and figured we were going to get wet. Wet we got.

Ralf saying foodbye to the hotel mascot.

Although it wasn’t really a pretty ride, it was very good. We were alongside two or three highways, although we heard the cars we couldn’t see them as they had huge sound barriers along the route. Ride with GPS took us along the Kitakawichi bike path for about 30 kms.

Although I mentioned my weak bladder yesterday, I am going to mention it again today. There is nowhere in Japan you can take a wild wee. There are people everywhere, even in the short time we were in a rural area, the highway was to one side and the houses were to the other.

Fortunately, there was a Lawsons’ that had a restroom.  There are three main convenience stores, 7/11, Family Mart and Lawson Station. They basically have the same food available and outside of Kyoto they have clean washrooms. In Taiwan, the 7/11 and Family Mart also had seating areas, in Japan they have taken them away.

The route to our hotel through Osaka was easy to follow. We are staying at another Apartment Hotel 11. They have friendly staff, kitchenettes, and a washing machine. We threw all our wet cycle gear into the machine and it is currently drying in the bathroom that has a dry fan, it ventilates, dries the laundry and has a cool breeze after showering!. I haven’t cleaned the bikes yet, but I will try to clean them before we leave. The bicycles are on the balcony.

We ate in the room and were looking forward to going to the Shimano Bicycle Museum tomorrow, but it is closed on Mondays. It may be a castle day.

Saturday October 4, 2025

We woke up to heavy clouds and rain. Checked the forecast, yep rain all day. This was going to be an interesting visit to Kyoto.

After breakfast we donned our Taiwan Ponchos and headed to the train station. When we were in Juifen, Taiwan last year it poured with rain and we bought these colourful ponchos. When I was packing for this trip I asked Ralf if we should take them, they were light and if we happened to get caught in the rain during a rest day they may come in handy. They came in very handy today.

Photo of us in Ponchos

We took the train from Otsu to Kyoto and stopped at the Tourist Information office in the train station for a map and I asked where the old town was. The lady showed me on the map and told me the Geisha Walk is at 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. I asked if they would be out as it was pouring with rain. Yes, they always do, but sometimes walk a shorter route.

We left the train station and meandered around the back streets trying to find the older part of the city. We found a few temples along the way.

Then we decided to take the Subway to the Gion area and we had a wonderful few hours walking around the old part of Kyoto with its small narrow streets and interesting restaurants. We found a few more temples and ended the day taking the Subway back to Kyoto station and the train back to Otsu.

After a while of walking in the rain, I needed to find a washroom. We spotted a Family Mart Convenience store and I popped in – this is the first Family Mart with no facilities. We carried on walking, we spotted a small temple with a Johnny on the Spot. I asked at the small office if I could use the toilet. The older gentleman came out – Japanese toilet. That’s o.k I said, I was desperate. The gentleman went back into his office to get the key or screwdriver. In the meantime another older gentleman appeared from nowhere and starting shouting at the first gentleman. They started shouting at each other and the second gentleman looked as if he was going to hit the first gentleman with his umbrella. Oh no, I have caused an international incident by asking to use a toilet. I think that the second gentleman didn’t think the first gentleman was moving fast enough and he should accommodate this little English woman faster. It was a squat toilet, but clean and I thanked both of the gentleman for their assistance.

Kyoto is one of the ‘must sees’ in Japan. It was worth visiting even in the rain. Kyoto was once the capital of Japan. It is famous for its numerous classical Buddhist temples, as well as gardens, Shinto shrines and traditional wooden houses. Tokyo officially became the capital in 1869. In 1868 the Tokugawa Shogunate was removed from power and Imperial rule was reestablished.

As it happened we saw the Emperor today. As we crossed over the rail crossing, Ralf was waiting to take a photo of the Shinkansen Train. A police officer approached us, introduced himself as a police officer and asked us to leave the bridge as the Emperor was due in Kyoto and they had to keep the area clear. He was very polite. We carried on walking towards the old City where the police were blocking off road crossings. After about 5 minutes the first batch of police cars and police motor cycles came through, then about 5 minutes later the Emperor came through. Nobody knew he was coming through, but there was a lot of waving and cheering when the locals realized what was happening. I said to Ralf I think he is only a young fella. He looked young as he waved to the crowds as the car sped past. Turns out he is 65, so not so young after all.

You can rent a kimono for the day.

Kyoto is also known for Geisha (Gaiko), female entertainers often found in the Gion district. The Geisha tradition goes back centuries. These are not prostitutes but young women who are trained in the Art of entertainment, singing, and dancing. Traditionally the evenings entertainment included a Geiko and a Maiko (trainee), food, drinks, entertainment (dancing and singing). The bill would be tallied up and sent to the customers account/bank. The customer would be a trusted client. It is was very rare for tourists to be able to take part in these evenings. However, there is now a show available so that tourists can see what the ceremony/entertainment is all about.

I think we saw more temples today than we have seen since we got here.

When arriving at Otsu, we put our return ticket into the gate and it would not let us through.  We had to go to the Fair Adjustment window, fortunately there was a fella in the office. He checked our tickets, we had paid the correct amount. However, because we had bought the ticket on the Subway and transferred to the Otsu line without validating the return ticket, the ticket was rejected. Sometimes you need a person not a machine.

Thursday October 2, 2025

A relaxing start to the day. We had to wait until the Tourism Office opened at 9:00 a.m. We had breakfast, took our bags down to the bikes and left them near the bikes. We had a lovely breakfast and headed through the train station to the Tourist Information office. In the train station there is a temporary Tourist Office manned by half a dozen volunteers, who are giving advice and gift bags to all the athletes coming into Omihachiman. I asked if this was the tourist office and that we wanted information on the Biwachi (cycling Lake Biwa). Two or three people were looking for maps and information for me, one gentleman lead us out of the temporary tourist office to the permanent tourist office outside. A very helpful lady gave us the complete map of the Biwachi. I asked her if there was a ferry we could take to the other side from Hikone or Nagahama. She said there was a cruise to the Island, but no bicycles were allowed. She asked where we were from, she was so excited that we were from Canada. She had studied English at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay Ontario, many years ago, and wanted to come back to Canada to see the Northern Lights again.

Route we wanted to take

No problem we will head south towards Kyoto today, but first we need to find a hotel for tonight. Therein lay the problem, we could not find a hotel (in our price range) in Kyoto for two nights. We looked north of Kyoto, South of Kyoto and they were all ridiculously expensive. We found one in Omihachiman which was reasonable but only got us 33 kms down the road. We booked it as time was getting on. We would worry about Kyoto later.

We left the hotel at 10:30 and found the Lake Biwa Bike path. Finally, a bike path that is off the main road and along the lake for the most part.

As we arrived in Omihachiman early we checked to see if there was anything worth seeing in this small town. Ralf found a ruined castle and a shrine that we checked out.

The shrine and small temple were found in a quiet clearing of the woods. Very peaceful and to commemorate the Nashimura family that owned the castle and later descendants who grew the family business to include banking, fishing and other corporate enterprises.

As we walked up the slightly overgrown path, I was being eaten by mosquitos. I turned around and looked after the bikes, whilst Ralf continued up the the hill. As it turned out the Nishimura family (that the castle belonged to) sold mosquito nets and cotton.

After we visited the ruins we headed into Town to see the Zenjuji Temple. It was a small temple and garden.

We were still early for the hotel mandatory check-in of 3:00 p.m. Across the road from the hotel was a McDonald’s. We decided to wait inside and have a coffee.

There was a very old couple looking at us and giggling. They would say something to each other, look over at us and giggle. I had a good day, so I smiled at them while drinking my coffee. As they were leaving they came over to chat. Neither of us spoke the others language, but we laughed. Ralf used google translate on the phone to talk to the old couple. They would read the text and then talk. Ralf would change the phone to translate Japanese to English and indicate for the old fella to talk into the phone, he stared at the phone. Then Ralf told him he could speak Japanese into the phone, and it would translate for him. He was away, spoke way to fast, but what they wanted to ask is; where we were from, how old we were and if the bikes had motors. The old fella was really interested in the bikes, the gears and what we were carrying. This is what I have missed on this trip, interacting with people even if you don’t understand a word the other person is saying.

We told them I was 67 and Ralf was 66 and the only motors the bikes had were our leg muscles. The old lady patted my thighs, and the old man was shocked and told her not to do that. The two of us laughed. The old fella was 88 and the lady was 85. We gave them a deep bow; they gave us a half bow and were giggling as they left us walking down the street hand in hand. I wish I had asked how long they had been together.

We checked into the AB Hotel and Ralf asked where we could keep the bikes, in our room, just wheel them in. I went up to the room first opened the door and thought to myself she must be joking. Ralf arrived and wondered why I hadn’t gone into the room already. He looked into the room this had to be the smallest hotel room we have stayed in. We can manage says Ralf and we did, two bikes in the tiniest hotel room.

Route we took.